Men in Black
by William Penn
Summary: The Lyoko Gang find themselves in trouble when Jeremy and Aelita's inquiries online draw the ire of Homeland security. Will Aelita's cover hold? Can Jeremy get them out of this mess?


Code Lyoko: Men in Black.

William Penn

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or its characters. I just like to write fanfics using their characters.

Note: This story takes place sometime in the third season before Xana uses Aelita to destroy Lyoko piecemeal.

**A Dead End**

Jeremy Belpois looked over his internet access program and sighed. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock and noted it was 03:00.

"I feel like a caveman trying to understand quantum physics!" He said to no one in particular. He had told Aelita Stones ( a.k.a. Aelita Hopper) to go get some rest after asking her to stay and help finish a program that was fundamentally flawed. Both of them almost got detention for falling asleep in class the previous day. It had become almost habitual to the chagrin of their teachers. Jim Morales, the Gym teacher/ adult supervision ,almost wrote Aelita up for falling asleep during one of his lengthy explanations on the game of soccer. If it wasn't for Ulrich and Odd feigning a fight distracting Jim, she would have had an hour of detention. They had put in two weeks of concentrated work with almost no sleep. He sighed deeply and shut the programs and various utilities down.

"I'd better go to bed before I start talking to myself!" He muttered laying out his pajamas.

The next day, Jeremy met the others for breakfast in the cafeteria. Aelita sat across from him looking glum and tired. Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robbia looked equally dejected.

"Wow! Calm down! You guys are just too enthusiastic today!" Yumi Ishiyama exclaimed with a touch of sarcasm.

"Yeah, it feels like study hall in the library." Ulrich added.

"It's quiche day and I stand a good change of bombing physics" explained Odd shrugging.

Jeremy sighed. "The internet access protocol as it stands is lethal if we try it. The only way to get to the internet appears to be through the digital sea and I can't find a safe way to do it." Jeremy said showing his frustration by striking the table with his fist. It didn't have much force and thudded softly.

"Maybe we need more background?" Aelita suggested. "We could do a search on related subjects, theories and digital technology."

"It is a question particle physics with a touch of nuclear acceleration." Jeremy explained giving Aelita's idea some thought. "I'll do some checking this afternoon after Physics."

"It's only a question of matching the theory with the algorithm." Jeremy mused after an hour of web surfing. He looked back at Aelita seated on Jeremy's bed with her laptop on her lap.

"Are we any better off than before?" Aelita asked looking up from her screen.

"Well, we figured out the West Indies is no where near India!" Jeremy was making reference to history class, where they just studied Christopher Columbus, who took longer to make that particular discovery. Aelita sighed and shook her head.

"It is a start: it narrows the parameters considerably." Jeremy retorted Aelita's dubious sigh.

"From a universe of possibilities to a galaxy…." Aelita replied rubbing her eyes.

"What's the matter?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm just tired and …" She started then began to think. "I thought I was being followed when I went to the _Tech Shack_." The_ Tech Shack,_ a store with the latest techno gadgets available, resided a mile away from Kadic Academy.

"Are you sure?" Jeremy asked getting up and sitting next to her.

"No, not really." She shook her head. "I thought I was just imagining it. It was too lame. There were men in black suits inside of a large black SUV. I went another way home and they followed, and then drove off."

"This could be a problem." It was Jeremy's turn to sigh.

**The Men in Black**

"What is the meaning of this" Principal Jean-Pierre Delmas becoming irate as the two Burly men barged into his office unannounced.

"Mr. Delmas, I'm Agent Smith from Homeland Security and this is Special Agent Frist, my associate. We are here to investigate a possible breach of security." He paused for a response from Mr. Delmas.

"I don't see how… we're only a low budget boarding school with a group of pre high school and high school students."

"We are just investigating a few suspicious inquiries at the public library and online, by a Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Stones." Agent Smith continued.

"Jeremy? Aelita? That is patently absurd! They are no more terrorists than Bozo the clown!" Mr. Delmas blustered. "Are you here to arrest them?" Agent Smith shook his head.

"Never-the-less, we do need to investigate these individuals due to the nature of their inquiries and why they want to know." Agent Frist added.

"About what?" Mr. Delmas asked.

"I'm afraid that is classified." Agent Smith said with reservation.

"It figures!" Mr. Delmas sighed.

"Have you heard the name Franz Hopper?" Agent Frist inquired.

"Yes, He was an instructor here, but that was before my time." Mr. Delmas replied curtly.

"We need to know the room assignments for Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Stones and access to their records." Agent Smith informed. "And we do have a warrant!" He added showing Mr. Delmas a folded sheet of paper. Mr. Delmas looked momentarily flustered at having his line of inquiry cut short.

"It's just one of those days!" Mr. Delmas sighed. "Nicole!" He called for his secretary.

**An Unpleasant Meeting**

"There is a ton of material here." Yumi said looking at the various papers and folders piled on Jeremy's bed and throughout his room. "How can you make sense of it?"

"They are separated into relevant data." Aelita explained pointing out the relevant data which was piled up closer to Jeremy's desk and the less relevant data sheets on the bed where Aelita carefully organized the other copies she made at the library a few weeks ago.

"I have to get some more boxes for this stuff!" Yumi left the room and proceeded to go down the stairs. She paused after brushing against two men, who were going upstairs. Yumi turned around and followed the J. Edgar Hoover looking men. To her surprise, in line with the increasingly bad feeling she started having; the men knocked on the wall next to Jeremy's room and entered without an invitation.

Yumi just left and Aelita got up to hand Jeremy some papers she thought he would find useful. He took the papers looking them over. Then they heard the knock and two men entered the room and shut the door.

"Hello!" Jeremy said wondering who these two jokers were. Aelita turned pale and backed up half a step stopping after she came in contact with Jeremy's desk. Jeremy shut down his link with the supercomputer.

"Hello." Agent Smith introduced himself and his partner again. "We are here to find out why a young man and a young lady like yourselves are interested in…." He picked up one of the papers on the bed and read from it:

"Nuclear theory and the Digital World."

Aelita dropped the papers in her hand and Jeremy stood up and stood in front of Aelita.

"Just doing research…" Jeremy stammered. "Do you have a warrant?"

"Yes, but we don't need one since we have the permission of the school principal to search your room"

Agent Frist smiled sarcastically. Agent Smith put his hand up.

"We are here because you have been making inquiries on line and in the library that …let us say are concerning us deeply. " Agent Smith said softly kneeling down in front of Aelita like a fatherly gesture and smiled. "Especially, the inquiry about Franz Hopper." Aelita gulped and turned a shade paler.

"We were just doing research…"Aelita repeated nervously. Agent Smith stood up and Agent Frist took his place without the fatherly demeanor.

"Really, what does a ninth grader need with technical information regarding…Nuclear power…Digital imagery… computer super viruses…..matter energy transfer…." Agent Frist rambled on. As his tone became more severe Aelita look like she would have a nervous breakdown.

"I don't know…"Aelita sobbed bitterly.

"Leave her alone!" Jeremy shouted forcing himself between Agent Frist and Aelita, who was visibly shaken. "She gets nervous around Government types…. Her father didn't trust them and passed his fear to her!" Jeremy said with newfound conviction. "And now after seeing this, I think he was right!"

"You can't arrest us! " Jeremy added forcefully.

"You, no but, I think we could take her into custody since she is a foreign national with a student visa…" Agent Frist smiled deviously as Aelita sat on the bed dejectedly. "She is a Canadian Citizen, isn't she?" Aelita shifted in her seat.

"We want the truth. Right now." Agent Smith demanded." I don't want to take her into custody, but I will if I have to. "Smith looked Jeremy right in his eyes. Aelita could only gasp and choke back tears.

"I told you. It's just research for a science project…we haven't even started the research yet." Jeremy said with appropriate dejection of a secret escaping.

"What is this project? A nuclear bomb? A subspace weapon? Digital Terrorism?" Agent Frist asked forcefully.

"It's for a scanner that can digitize matter." Jeremy admitted sadly. "We haven't even got the components yet." Agent Smith's demeanor changed. His face softened. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"Kid, if you do that MIT's going to fit your bill." Agent Frist scoffed.

"That and we'll have to make some arrangements. Thank you, very much for your time. We're done here!" Agent Smith smiled and left as Aelita regained her composure.

"The only thing to do now is the background check!" Agent Frist said on the way out following his partner. Aelita look stunned. Jeremy did too after he began to wonder how deep they would probe into Aelita's cover story. They just looked at one another as they shared the same thought. _What kind of arrangements?_

**Busted!**

Jeremy called the rest of the Lyoko Warriors to a meeting in the courtyard at Kadic. Odd finally showed up.

"What's going on?" Odd asked. "I just got interview by two rejects from the J. Edgar Hoover era."

"Same here!" Ulrich added arriving just before Odd did. "It's lucky we don't know any thing about quantum physics!" Ulrich picked up that term from Jeremy's use of the term on numerous occasions.

"They asked me a lot about Aelita and our family." Odd interjected. Aelita cringed. Her cover as Odd's cousin from Canada wasn't going to last long.

"They asked me a lot about her, too." Yumi sighed. "This is serious we have Feds questioning us and we haven't done anything!"

"We shouldn't talk here! Follow me." Jeremy instructed. The Lyoko crew followed him as they left Kadic wary of prying eyes.

"Jeremy, I don't see anyone suspicious." Ulrich said after looking around nervously.

"They could have security cam access…." Jeremy replied.

"They have spy satellites that can read the time off a wrist watch…." Aelita added whispering.

"And watch a group of teens leave campus…." Odd added cheerfully. They ignored him.

"Did you guy's leave your mobiles in your rooms like I said?" Jeremy asked.

They all nodded in the affirmative.

"This is not good!" Ulrich sighed pointing out the train of black SUV's and scattered police cars in their ranks.

"I take it Aelita's cover is blown." Odd sighed. "It was nice having a cousin." He continued sadly.

Aelita's morale went subterranean.

Jeremy started to pick up his pace when Ulrich put his hand on his shoulder.

"They don't see us in the brush. Don't run it will draw their attention!" Ulrich said in a harsh whisper.

"Act nonchalant!" Odd added to everyone. Aelita put up her hood to cover her pink hair. Her hood was also pink, unfortunately.

"This could really affect our status at Kadic." Odd mused. "But we would be legends!"

"Yeah, most _legends_ have an unhappy ending." Yumi retorted. They heard the sound of disembarking police and muffled shouts as they raided Kadic Academy.

"We are so toast!" Yumi sighed after hearing the mayhem behind them.

Aelita sighed as if she came to a decision and followed the rest slowly.

**Sanctuary**

They went to the Hopper household a.k.a. the _Hermitage_ where Jeremy led them to the steam room in the basement.

"We can talk freely now. I found that these walls are lined with foil that hinders electronic surveillance." Jeremy informed them shutting the door.

"I think I should turn myself in." Aelita said suddenly. "I'm the only one that doesn't check out."

They said no unanimously in one voice.

"I won't tell them anything. I'll just say I duped you guys into being my friends." She added.

"Aelita, do you know what you are saying?" Jeremy held her shoulders while making eye contact.

"Who will fight Xana?" Yumi retorted. "You are the only one who can deactivate the towers."

"Yeah, princess." Odd added. "It's not like I didn't claim you as my cousin? Besides I 'm not going to let a friend go down alone. That is just wrong!"

"What kind of friends would we be if we let you do that?" Ulrich chided softly.

"No one is going to turn themselves in. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The only option I can see is to Return to the Past…." Jeremy held his hands up to slow their panic.

"Einstein, I thought RTTP only goes back a day. The triggers for this event happened two weeks ago." Ulrich explained.

"Yes a few of the triggers, but the heaviest triggers happened when we did our research on the internet access program to attack Xana where he lives." Jeremy explained. "I need to see if we can go back farther. Just in case…" Jeremy's laptop beeped in alarm. "Oh no! Not now!" He opened his laptop as the alarm stopped. "What the..?"

"What is it, Einstein?" Ulrich asked. The others gathered around.

"The net is down! The computer just got bugged! I can't do anything from here, now!" Jeremy sounded frazzled. "Xana!"

"Oh man!" Odd sighed." Forget about prison now! Now we're talking capital punishment!"

"You can't be serious!" Yumi said.

"They'll blame us." Jeremy agreed.

"That would be the penalty for sabotage in a time of war." Aelita sighed. "FDR did it during WWII for German nationals who snuck into the country for sabotage."

"None of us are Germans!" Yumi retorted.

"Yumi and I are foreign nationals." Aelita retorted. "I should just turn myself in and see what happens. Maybe I can delay them long enough for a RTTP."

"If there is an activated tower, we need you Aelita!" Jeremy replied. "We can't RTTP with an activated tower. It would be too dangerous."

"I'm sorry about this, guys." Aelita conceded with a sigh. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"You have nothing to apologize for!" Yumi chided. "You didn't do this! It's just fate."

"Yeah, if anyone's to blame, it's those government bozo's that won't leave you alone!" Odd said softly, his voice yielding to anger as he mentioned the culprits.

"If we survive this, we can argue the point until the cows come home, but now we need to get to the factory undetected." Jeremy instructed. He turned to Aelita. "If you go down we all go down!"

"Don't go and try to turn yourself in, Princess, or I will turn myself in and confess to everything I've ever done!" Odd said cheerfully. The others looked a moment. Then they burst out laughing at the possibilities. Even Aelita smiled.

**All the King's Men**

"She is gone, sir!" The commando reported to Agent Smith.

"How about Belpois, Del Robbia and Stern?" Agent Smith asked.

"They're gone too, sir. Yumi Ishiyama is missing from class as well."

"Expand the search to the surrounding area." Agent Smith ordered.

"What's going on, here? What are they up to?" Jim Morales, who had just found Agent Smith, asked.

"I don't know but I will find out." Agent Smith stated.

"Are you sure about Aelita?" Jim asked. "She's not the sort to cause trouble. The others can be a pain, but so far all they have done is skip class occasionally…"

"She is not Della Robbia's cousin and the Canadian address Ms. Stones supplied is a fake." Agent Smith answered.

"Agent Smith! " A commando said urgently. " All the networks are down…phones…radio, electricity… all gone!"

"The electricity is out all over the city and the networks have crashed and _they_ are missing."

"You think they did this?" Jim asked. "Jeremy and Aelita are computer nuts, but they have never crashed anything before…."

"If anyone sees them, I want to know. Put out an APB out on all of them. This is now a matter of National Security. I want to know who they are working for!" said Agent Smith. "I want them found before they go national with this attack!"

"You want me to put out an APB on Franz Hopper as well?" Agent Frist pulled Smith to one side and whispered.

"Yeah, it does sound like his workmanship." Agent Smith nodded. "There has to be a relationship. How does a group of school children know about a man like Hopper?"

**Run Around Lyoko Bound**

The Lyoko crew crept silently through the tunnels leading to the Factory. They used the _Hermitage_ connection, which kept them below ground on their way to the Factory. Aelita looked around nervously.

"What was that?" Odd asked for the fourth time in as many minutes. Odd hadn't realized the ambient sounds present in a sewer tunnel until today when a scampering rat could sound like footsteps of a commando. His questions did little to help Aelita's unease. Aelita looked at him and frowned.

"If you ask that question one more time…" Ulrich warned.

"Sorry, I'm just a little edgy "Odd smiled uneasily and backed off.

They climbed up wordlessly just behind the Bridge in front of the Factory. Ulrich motioned for everyone to stay put. He was the first one up the ladder and now he checked to see if the coast was clear.

Then he nodded as if to say 'okay.'

Everyone sighed in relief when they set foot in the lab and no one else was there waiting on them.

"I need to see what's going on." Jeremy went to his console and began keying. "Holy cow! Xana has knocked out every server in town and the electricity, even military channels…"

Aelita gasped and put her hands over her face. Odd moved to console her.

"We have a tower. It's in the Mountain Sector. Are you ok, Aelita?" Jeremy asked.

"Sorry, it's just this morning we were have breakfast and now…" Aelita trailed off.

"Yeah, normalcy went right out the window!" Jeremy smiled. "Don't worry, it will be alright!"

"Or it'll be the end of the world as we know it!" Odd murmured. Aelita giggled not at what Odd said but how he said. Odd said it like it would be nothing worse than staying after class. Then she started laughing in earnest. Ulrich chuckled too.

"Like we haven't risked _that_ before!" Ulrich added chortling. Jeremy smiled at the healthy release of anxiety.

"You guys are nuts!" Yumi started giggling, too. "Absolutely, gonzo!" She laughed.

The laughter carried on even as they headed to the scanner room.

Yumi, Odd and Ulrich appeared first; virtualized in mid air. They dropped to the ground in a combat stance. Aelita appeared behind them in mid air and she dropped onto the ground ready for battle.

"I feel great!" Odd proclaimed. "I could take on the world!"

"You might get your wish if we don't succeed." Yumi retorted.

"The healing power of laughter!" Ulrich sighed. He took the lead. "Do we have company?"

"Not yet, but the tower is on the platform above you to the northeast." Jeremy replied. "I'll send your taxis over!" Jeremy began keying up the programs.

The overboard, overwing and the overcycle appeared in front of the Lyoko Warriors. Ulrich mounted the overcycle with a leap and Aelita got on behind him. Odd took the overboard and Yumi the overwing.

"Hold on, Aelita!" Ulrich warned as he took the overcycle into a steep climb. Aelita held on tighter.

The others followed the overwing over the mountain.

"Look out!" Jeremy warned. "Two megatanks are guarding the tower. Four tarantulas are coming directly at you! Guys, I'm working on a RTTP protocol. You will be on your own for a while."

"Xana knows we're here." Ulrich sighed morosely. "For once I'd like to catch him by surprise!"

"Ah, you're forgetting one thing!" Odd smiled. "We know he's here too! We'll surprise him when we win!"

"That's the spirit!" Yumi giggled.

They came into view of the tower.

"Bring me in close." Aelita whispered in Ulrich's ear. "I'm going for it!"

"Going for a dive, huh?" Ulrich smiled. Aelita nodded giving an affirmative 'hmm!"

Odd and Yumi moved to engage the megatanks while Ulrich rounded the tower.

Aelita cried out and jumped off the overcycle. She made it half way to the tower when two shots hit her from the side knocking her away from the tower. She yelped and did a somersault, but overcompensated and hit the ground rolling horribly. She came to a stop and lay still.

Ulrich saw what happened and noted the shots came from one of the advancing tarantulas. A new problem emerged; one of the megatanks rolled itself into position to finish off Aelita. It rolled into position, opened, then fired. Ulrich took the overcycle into the pat of the shot then bailed out.

Ulrich landed near Aelita and tried to get to her.

"Look out, Aelita!" He shouted. Aelita looked up saw the shot and rolled out of the way just as it grazed her shoulder. She cried out again almost in pain. Aelita got up and ran to the tower after sending two energy spheres into the megatank. The shots bounced off. On the other side, Yumi and Odd just finished off the other megatank and proceeded to attack the tarantulas. The remaining megatank opened to fire at Aelita again. Ulrich jumped right on top of it and skewered its bull's eye. Ulrich leapt off as the Megatank shut up rolled a few yards. Then it exploded. Aelita went into the tower boundary and it wavered like it was made of water.

"We have a new problem! The feds have found us! They're storming the factory in force!" Jeremy panic as he locked down the lab. "I haven't finished the program yet! I'll have to execute it as is." Jeremy saw the tower turn neutral.

"Better execute the program before they execute us!" Ulrich warned.

"Go for it, Einstein!" Odd shouted enthusiastically.

"We trust you!" Yumi added.

"I have faith in you, Jeremy!" Aelita said placing her hands together hopefully.

"Return to the past, Now!" Jeremy said as the elevator doors exploded sending fragments into a power conduit, which sent out sparks. The commandos tossed in a _flash bang_ which sent out a blinding flash and bang. The _flash _was outdone by the RTTP wave which enveloped everything in its own light.

Jeremy woke up in his room in his own bed in his pajamas. He looked at the clock and saw it was 04:30.

"What the…" He looked at the calendar and saw it was last month. He heard a knock on his door.

"Come in!" Jeremy asked softly getting up trying not to wake anyone.

Aelita, wearing her pink nightshirt with the 'A' on it, came into his room. She ran to him and embraced him and he twirled her around.

"You did it, Jeremy!" Aelita squealed as she spun around.

Odd and Ulrich came in also wearing their night clothes.

"Are we interrupting something?" Ulrich smiled.

Jeremy stopped and set Aelita down and they both blushed.

"Well, uh, I think we went back too far!" Jeremy apologized.

"Speak for yourself, Einstein." Odd smiled. "Maybe I won't bomb Physics after all!"

"Maybe you will study _this time_!" Aelita chided still red from excitement.

"Why? I know what's on the test! I'm going to bed, good night!" Odd smiled.

"Good night! Let's go to bed before Jim wakes up." Ulrich smiled. "Carry on!"

Aelita and Jeremy looked at one another and blushed again. Aelita kissed Jeremy.

"Good night, Jeremy!" She smiled prancing back to her room. Jeremy smiled trying to wish her good night but his mouth wouldn't work. He just stood there alone in a daze- blushing.

"Wow!" He finally managed to say as he collapsed on his bed.


End file.
